Critic Reviews

As you watch the smart, sophisticated, sharply written and slickly
directed Spin City strut its stuff, memories of Murphy
Brown's early days may come to mind. Dominating a volatile, high-profile workplace and supported by a crackerjack cast, Fox demonstrates superb and crafty comic timing in a tailor-made role. [17 Sept 1996, p.1D]

Everything about City does not spin with equal balance. The pilot's plot (the mayor stumbles into a gay rights controversy) is so hackneyed and out-of-touch, it makes you wonder if the writers have been to New York in the last decade. But the spin doctors at Spin City insist the plot's creakiness is an aberration - and so many other things in the show go well, I'm inclined to believe them. [17 Sept 1996, p.D-4]

Just about everybody in this cast is superb. Maybe the production team, headed by Gary David Goldberg, who did Fox's "Family Ties" and the cuddly "Brooklyn Bridge", will fix all the first episode's flaws. Too many halfhearted gay and orgasm jokes bring to mind too many of last year's tired Friends imitators.[17 Sept 1996, p.D01]

Spin City is television as culture, and I am not sure whether a show like this merely plugs into the cynicism already in place in our country or creates more and more of it by making it seem like the hip, in-the-know way to be.[17 Sept 1996, p.]

Every few years, if we're lucky, a new sitcom arrives that is so effortlessly funny, its characters so perfectly realized, that it seems more like a third-season opener than a fresh-from-the-box pilot. "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was that way; so were "Taxi," "Cheers" and "Frasier," to name a few others...I may be overstating things, but I don't think I am, by placing tonight's Michael J. Fox showcase, ABC's Spin City, in the same league. [17 Sept 1996, p.70]

"Spin City" doesn't have a good joke, other than Michael J. Fox. He has to carry the show himself. He has to be what makes you laugh. In the first three episodes he is not funny, he is cute. [7 Oct 1996]

In this disappointing opener, though, the pace is more frantic
than fun, and the plot about the token gay is neither clever
nor funny...The one cinch about Spin City is that Fox wants a
hit just as much as ABC wants one. They'll just have to try
harder; you can bet they will. [17 Sept 1996, p.1]

As might be expected with any Gary David Goldberg product, Spin City is smart stuff. The one-liners zing, Mr. Fox and company are disarming and the 22 minutes flow by effortlessly. The only snag is that concept of spin. Are those who toy with the truth all that funny?

But the concept of a smart political whip cleaning up after his bumbling boss is hardly original (anyone remember "Benson"?), and the otherwise smartly written series is racy and relies on crudity to fill slow moments - a trend all too prevalent this season. [17 Sept 1996, p.10]

So, with all that talent in its back pocket, why isn't Spin City better? The much-hyped ABC comedy isn't a bad show, but it relies too heavily on Fox's charms and trademark double takes, lopsided grin and head scratches. And as considerable and familiar as they are, the quirks wear thin after a while. [17 Sept 1996, p.E6]

While some of the humor scores, too much is of the red-herring variety one-liners that don't really have anything to do with anything. And anyone even mildly versed in Gotham politics will find Spin City low on the believability scale, which is probably a good thing, as you'd need a Robert Altman to find much humor in the real thing. [16 Sept 1996]